reason #37 that I am the world's coolest mom:

Thursday as dh was walking in the door from work, R and I were walking out. why? because I drove my 11 year old son 2 hours to go see a concert. a concert in the Wal-Mart parking lot! really!!

The Plain White Ts and Boys Like Girls were playing. neither of us had heard anything by BLG but PWT sing one of my current favorite songs: Hey There Delilah. wednesday I had purchased their most recent deluxe album and R and I had listened to it a few times and by the time we had gotten to the l-o-v-e-l-y Reno Wal-Mart we had found a few other songs that we liked maybe even more than Delilah!

on the way up we stopped at In & Out for dinner. Auntie Arlyn will tell you that this is like striking gold for R. I don't know why! but having already had it earlier in the week when Arlyn visited and then getting it again Thursday made it a banner week even before the concert. we chatted and sang throughout the drive up. I really enjoyed the time we had to ourselves. I was even able to get in a plug for continued communication through the teenage years! lol!!

when we got to Wal-Mart we were a little lost because our lovely directions didn't actually tell us WHERE the store was. luckily we found some people who don't speak English very well and got horrible directions. despite that, we managed to find the right place. really, how can you miss a big ol' tent? well....the tent was for a tire sale or something. but it was located near enough the concert venue (::cough cough::) that we found where we were going.

they had an actual stage set up. so much for me thinking it was going to be a 3 song set on the back of a flatbed truck! lol!! I really would have been sad if that had been the case. at the most crowded I think there were probably 1,000 people loitering in the parking lot with us ranging from infancy to maybe 45ish. there were several parent-types like me that stayed on the outs of the crowd and let their kids go join the fray. R never went to far. he isn't embarrassed by me yet! lol!

anyway....before I put you to sleep......Boys Like Girls played for 45 minutes. they were really good and I think I need to check out a cd or 2. while they were playing we noticed some movement in and out of the tour bus. I suggested R might want to go see if he could get some autographs. well....the security guard was doing her job and wouldn't let him through. but I did notice two guys walk out from the backstage/tour bus area. I hesitated a moment and then approached them. I apologized for bugging them. I mentioned our 2 hour drive, that we wouldn't be able to stay afterwards due to the drive home, and if they wouldn't mind, could they get my son's cd signed by the band???? OH YEAH BABY!! sure thing they said.... they just wanted to listen to BLG for a few songs and then they would take care of it! and sure enough they did. in fact, while they were back there, a woman started talking to R. after the guys came back with the cd she came over to R and me and confirmed that they had gotten it autographed. we chatted about the band and tour a bit and she asked if we were going to be there the next night. no because I don't think I could handle that drive 2 days in a row. I told her that was why we couldn't stay for the autograph session afterwards and that I was so thankful the guys had signed the cd for us. I told her I was kinda bummed because I would have loved a picture of R with the band. she told me they wouldn't be doing photos so we wouldn't be missing anything! (SOOOO nice to know huh?!?!? and I don't mean that sarcastically.....that woman potentially saved me 2 hours! lol!) anyway..... she handed R her backstage pass as a souvenir! he was BEAMING!!! (and mom got serious brownie points for getting his cd signed!)

then Plain White Ts played. THEY ROCKED!!! there was only one song we didn't recognize and when they did play Hey There Delilah the audience sang louder than the lead singer. R and I totally rocked out and had SUCH a blast! they played for just about an hour. we were excited because they played the songs that we REALLY loved off the cd we had bought. and if Delilah is the only song of theirs that you have heard, I seriously recommend that you check out their other songs. they can rock it.....but at the same time all their music has a joyful, youthful optimism in it........ even when they are talking about being dumped or something! lol!! the guys obviously work well together as the show gave off a very personal feel. I know that being in such an odd venue (do you call a parking lot a venue??) had something to do with it. but it had a small club feel to it. on the way home, before falling asleep, R mentioned several times that he really likes PWTs. he is already scheming being able to go to their next show near us in November.

btw.......my excuse for not blogging about this earlier is that LM is having their 5th Anniversary celebration! it is SO BIG (how big is it???) that the weekend crop is lasting a week! come check it out!!!